


First comes Love

by makingitwork



Series: Bughead Prompts [54]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Age Difference, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, bughead - Freeform, older jughead, younger betty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 06:35:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16697290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makingitwork/pseuds/makingitwork
Summary: Jughead wants a baby...Betty, not so much.





	First comes Love

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a brilliant anon on tumblr, and honed by the lovely "Ithoughtyoulikedmereckless" both of you are wonderful and I love you! 
> 
> Enjoy!

A little after a year and a half since they've been dating, Betty misses her period. 

She freaks out. 

All her safari tabs on her iPhone are about the possible reasons that she's been reading obsessively, but simultaneously, she doesn't believe any of them. She's never been late in her life. Not since she was thirteen. She's irritatingly reliable, unnervingly predictable and always, always, always on time.

She curls up in a ball on their bed in Jughead's apartment and tries to figure out what she's going to do. The internet tells her not to freak out, but she is, she is freaking out. She brings up Polly's name on her phone and hovers over the call button for a long time before flinging it away from her. She's only twenty three. She's not ready! She's just got her dream job, and she and Jughead are in such a good place, and now she's pregnant and god, she's not Polly! Polly had been ready, eager for a baby and sure Betty likes the idea of  _some day_ but that some day is not today and she doesn't know what to do. 

She falls into a restless slumber, even though she isn't tired. Probably her brain overrunning because she knows she got eight hours last night. It's a restless sleep, full of dark shapes and nonsensical sounds and she wakes up hours with a startled jerk. 

It's dark outside, and the bedroom is cast in shadows of grey and pewter. 

She sits up, blinking and wondering why she's even awake, when the sound of footsteps in the kitchen make her realise: Jughead's home. She shoves her feet into some slippers, and wraps the blanket on the bed around herself as she pads warily out.

Light spills onto her as she winces her way out of the bedroom. Sure enough, Jughead is rummaging around the kitchen with half a twinkie poking out of his mouth. She lets her eyes rake over him. He's covered in dust and sand and there are streaks of caramel in his hair from where ancient dirt has no doubt rubbed against him. She wonders briefly what sort of artefacts he uncovered today since he was clearly in the field. His white shirt is going to have be thrown out, just another one to add to their growing pile of discarded clothes, and he looks beautiful. 

Something scared clenches in the pit of her stomach. 

Could she lose this? Him? Everything she loves? 

Of course not, another part of her chimes. He's proven how much he loves her so many times, she has to stop doubting him. So she sucks in a deep breath, and hopes and knows that he'll help her through this. "Juggie?" She calls, and he turns towards her, smiling around the treat he's got in his mouth and hurriedly working to swallow it without choking. 

When he finally succeeds, he comes over to her, and kisses her softly on the lips. He tastes of sugar and cream. "Betts," he grins, "I'm exhausted. Hop in the shower with me?"

It's an inviting offer, but that's probably how she ended up pregnant. But they've always been so careful. She's been on the pill since she was old enough, and Juggie always wears a condom and- and against all the odds this is where they are. She can feel tears beginning to well up in her eyes. She's not ready. She doesn't know how to deal with any of this-

"Betty!" Jughead cries in alarm, fingers curling around her shoulders and ducking his head worriedly. "Are you okay? Did something happen?" He's pulling back to rake his eyes over her, looking for something physically wrong and she wonders when a stomach would even start to protrude. 

"I'm-I'm-" she breaks down, and falls into sobs. 

He collects her into his chest, one hand rubbing up and down her back and the other cupping the back of her neck. He's so solid and warm and safe. She feels so strong when he's near her. She's reminded of that old song:  _Your arms are my castle, your heart is my sky._ "Breathtaking?" He murmurs into her ear, "intelligent? Brilliant?"

She manages a small, watery smile, before nuzzling further into the dirty fabric of his shirt. "Pregnant." She corrects.

His hand stills for a moment, and she feels dread well up despite herself. It coils black and dangerous and scary around her heart. When he pulls back, she nearly doesn't open her eyes. She doesn't want to see the look on his face. She doesn't want to know. But from somewhere, she finds the courage, and she does, and she's not prepared for what she sees. 

He looks...it's happier than happy. He looks  _ecstatic._ He looks more content and excited than she's ever seen before. It's intoxicating and contagious and she finds herself smiling in response. 

"Betty, oh my god," he gasps, moving to cradle her face in his big hands, and looking like he's torn between laughing and kissing her. "Oh my god, this is amazing," he leans in to kiss her hard and she can feel his grin against her lips. He's thrumming with beaming energy and she's so surprised that this is something he...something's he's not just going to tolerate, but something he actively  _wants._ How long has he wanted this? "A baby, oh my god, we're gonna have a baby," he pulls her in for another kiss and suddenly Betty's faced with a new, crippling fear. 

Does she even  _want_ a baby? 

She doesn't know. She doesn't think about it. She lets herself get swept away along the waves of Jughead's bliss, and they eat dinner together and make out like teenagers until they fall asleep. 

 

She wakes up to blood and pain and it's such a shaking flood of relief. 

She eases out of bed, wincing at the blood stain on the blankets, and tiptoes to the bathroom. Her stomach hurts in the best way and as she cleans herself up, she pales. This means she's  _not_ pregnant. And Jughead, her sleeping boyfriend, thinks she is, and he's so excited and...

Betty's an idiot. She's a complete idiot. She should have- she should have taken a test or something and not just freaked out. She shouldn't have  _told_ him before she was sure! But she was- she was so sure. Despite what the internet had told her and now- and now-

She's not sure how she's going to face this. 

As she heads back into the bedroom, Jughead's awake; hair all mussed from sleep. It's in such anti-gravity disarray that it looks like he's been electrocuted. His eyes flicker from the blood stain on the sheet to Betty, and she flushes deep red. She's so  _embarrassed._ About everything- about this pregnancy scare, about the blood on their bed, about- "I'm sorry," she gushes, hoping it encompasses everything. Hoping she looks as sincere as she feels in her pyjamas with her hair in a knotted bun. 

He still looks at her like she's the most beautiful thing in the world. "Betty," he says softly, a small half-smile tugging on his lips. "False positives happen all the time. It's okay," he gets out of bed and lumbers over to her, wrapping his arms tight around her. "But now that we know we want one, we can try." He kisses her forehead, all warmth and sleepy happiness. At least he assumes she took a test. He doesn't know how stupid she was. But now he's all happy and...

She feels trapped. 

"Do you want me to go to the store?" He continues in his low, sleepy timbre. "Get you some tampons and some painkillers?" 

She loves him so much. She does want to have a baby with him, she knows she does. One with his eyes and his hair. She wants them to buy baby clothes and build a crib together. But she doesn't want that now. She's not ready for that now. "I'm fine," she murmurs, because the pain in her abdomen is a reminder that she's not pregnant. She needs that now. "Juggie..." the words clog in her throat. "I should clean up." She gestures to the bed instead. 

"I can do it-"

"No, no, I will," she hurries, a little humiliated. He rolls his eyes at her, and kisses her temple again. 

"I'll make breakfast," he decrees grandly, and leaves her to it. She tosses everything into the hamper, relieved to see that the blood hasn't soaked through to the mattress, and then because she's a coward, she dawdles in the bedroom. She cleans up the few socks Jughead leaves lying around and reorganises the top of the dresser until the warm morning sun from outside won't stop shining sunbeams onto her face like a reminder:  _you should leave the bedroom now_ the sunbeams chime accusingly. 

She glares out the window, but is greeted to the beautiful view of downtown Manhattan. It's gorgeous. It looks peacefully serene on this summer Sunday. Would they still be able to live in a flat if they had a baby? Would they need to leave this apartment? All of Jug's apartments? Get a little house somewhere? She likes the idea of searching for the perfect house, but she doesn't want to leave this pace. It's in such a prime location with such beautiful views and...and does that make her a bad person? To want to enjoy where she is for a while? She's still young! None of her friends are having children yet and- and no. No, she's not a bad person. 

Feeling righteous and renewed and brave, she marches out of the bedroom just in time to see Jughead serving out two platefuls of pancakes. 

She should have cooked breakfast. He always makes  _so much_ and the pancakes stack up like little towers covered in chocolate and maples syrup and it smells fantastic and she's going to have to pull an extra long session at the gym to make up for this mess. He grins at her, ludicrously handsome, and she slides onto the stool at the breakfast bar. He leans over the counter opposite her, rolling up a pancake and forcing it whole into his mouth. 

She snorts elegantly. "That's charming," she teases, and he winks at her, moaning at the taste of his own creation. 

She takes her own delicate bite of the pancakes and hums approvingly. Chocolate chips and honey and maple burst against her tongue. She wants to bury her feelings in this plate but she knows she can't. "Juggie," she says, chewing slowly, "we need to talk." 

His dark eyebrows lift in surprise, disappearing under his tumbling midnight locks. "Oh," he murmurs, frowning as he folds his arms on the granite and leans on them. "That's never a good sign." 

She sighs, keeping her face on her breakfast because she can't bear to look at him. "I don't think I want a baby." She says. "Not- not yet!" She adds hastily, worried he'll get the wrong idea. "I do someday, definitely, with you, but, but- not now. I'm..." she looks up at him, managing a brave smile. "I'm so happy with where we are now. I want us to relish in this for a while longer, is that- is..." she doesn't say  _is that okay_ but she looks at him meaningfully. "It's how I feel. It's what I want." 

His face is blank, but it looks carefully so. As though he's trying to school his emotions and she hates it. He must see it on her face, because he sighs and lets the sadness etch onto his features. It breaks her heart. "I respect what you want, Betty," he murmurs gently, "of course I do. We're not going to have a baby if you don't want one yet, but I...I do  _want_ a baby." He huffs a little laugh, eyes glistening a little in the morning light. "I'm nearly thirty and I've found my soulmate. I've spent my years travelling and I've seen my lot. I want a baby. I want one with your hair and your eyes and your smile. I want to be a  _dad."_ His voice is watery, and she's never seen him cry before, and she's not going to now.

She runs around the breakfast bar to haul him into a hug. He leans into her for support. She understands him. She gets it. They're in different places. When she's his age, she guesses that she'll want a baby too. But she's not. She hasn't had her chance yet, and he has. It's scary. It's scary to realise that they disagree with each other, that they want different things, over something so important. And she can't see an easy answer. She knows couples that have broken up for less, and she clutches him harder in her arms because she is not going to lose him over this. 

He's apparently thinking the same thing, because he presses his wet cheek to the top of her head and swallows thickly. "We can make it work, can't we, Betts? We won't ruin us over this, will we?" 

"No," she promises, trying to keep her voice steady. "We won't." 

 

It's easier said than done, unfortunately. 

They walk on egg shells around each other for the week following. Betty's period comes and goes and when they do have sex, it's not as intimate as it has been before. It's just...it's almost mechanical. So it's a relief when Jughead brings up the forbidden topic. "It's about sacrifice," Jughead murmurs to her over dinner one night. She cocks her head at him inquisitively. "One of us has to sacrifice time. You're so young," he shakes his head, "you haven't had the chance to do the stuff I got to do yet and you deserve the chance to do it. But I'm...I'm not as young. I'm ready. But I'm not...I'm not missing anything by us not having a baby right now, Betty. You'd be the one missing stuff. So, I just...even though it's not my decision at all, I want you to know, that waiting is something I fully support you on." He pauses, before half smiling. "Maybe not  _fully._ Like 95%." 

She beams at him, and he smiles back shyly in response. "I love you, Jughead," she says with all the feeling in the world. 

A blush crawls across his jaw and he swipes his hands through his hair. "I love you too, Betty." 

Life eases towards normalcy again. But Betty's too busy to appreciate normalcy, because she has a plan. 

She loves Jughead. He's her soulmate and she knows it. And though there's been pain in their recent decision, she knows that they're a couple who are working through things that every couple does. She also knows that in terms of gestures, he's currently outdoing her. 

So, because she wants to be romantic, because she wants him to be happy, because she loves him, and most importantly,  _because she wants to,_ she and Veronica go shopping for a ring. 

* * *

 

" _Polly's been acting super weird."_ Jason says, and Jughead nods, holding the phone to his ear. He makes a non-commital sound and Jason huffs in frustration.  _"I'm serious, man. It's like she's keeping something from me."_

"Oh my god, Jason," Jughead rolls his eyes, world-weary, "you say that every time she chooses to go out with Cheryl rather than you. Maybe she's just tired and doesn't want to relay every single phone call she has to you." 

 _"You don't know anything about women,"_ Jason declares, and Jughead laughs. " _Whatever. I'll figure it out myself. What about you? You and Betty doing okay?"_

"We're fine, better than, actually," Jughead answers honestly, reaching the door to the apartment and cramming the phone between his cheek and shoulder to hunt through his pockets for his keys. "I just have to learn to be patient, you know. Maybe if you and Polly visited more often I could steal one of your kids." 

Jason laughs. " _I don't know why you're eager for this. It's saying goodbye to sleep... and _ _sex for a long time."_

Jughead hums thoughtfully. The idea of not having sex with Betty isn't very appealing. "Maybe you're right," he teases, fishing the key out of his back pocket. He jams it into the lock. "Okay, I'm home now, and unless you want to talk to Betty about all your Polly problems..."

_"I'll head off. Call me tomorrow!"_

"Sure, Jason, bye," Jughead chimed, turning the key in the lock and pushing the door open. 

The sight he was met with didn't compute for a long moment. 

Candles lined the entirety of the apartment, creating a warm honeyed glow that flickered up the walls romantically. Crushed rose petals were strewn so thickly over the floor that he could hardly make out the carpet underneath. And finally, most importantly, there was Betty. His Betty. Clad in a silk red dress that had no right to look as stunning as it did in the way it cling to her body. She was on her knees, her long blonde hair soft around her bare shoulders and holding a-

his heart blipped

Holding an open ring box, in which lay a smooth gold band. 

He didn't register his phone sliding out of the makeshift grip on his shoulder and slamming onto the floor. He didn't register the way he kicked the door closed behind him and gravitated towards her like they were two starts always destined to meet. The petals were obscenely soft under his shoes and he drew towards her, eyes enchanted and glued to her form, as he fell to his knees in front of her so they were level. She was smiling, and he could barely breathe in awe. "Juggie," she murmured, eyes watering with crystal tears. 

He could only stare at her in amazement. 

"I'm...I love you so much, and you're everything I ever wanted and will ever want and everything I could ever have hoped for." Her voice was shaky and soft. "You're my best friend, and my soulmate and you make me laugh when I'm upset, and hold me when I'm breaking. I loved you the second you walked in through our front door when I was eight and I'll love you for eternity. I..." her voice trembled and broke, diamonds cascading down her cheeks and he swooned forward to wipe them from her face. 

"Betty," he whispered, voice wrecked. 

She licked her lips, sniffling and trying again. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you and-" tears started again, her breath hiccuping. "Dammit," she said, more to herself than him, laughing wetly. "This is so hard to do without crying." 

Jughead pushed their foreheads together, a warmth wrapping around his heart. How had his life ended up like this? Beyond perfect? He had the most beautiful woman in the world and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. He didn't deserve her. "Betty," he said, his world contained to just this woman in front of him. "I..." he was lost for words. The ring was shiny and gold between them. 

"Marry me," she managed, and he surged forward to kiss her. She tasted of strawberries and lemon tea, and as his hands fell to her waist, the silk was slippery and almost as soft as her skin. Kissing Betty would never be something to get over. Never be something to take for granted. She was beautiful. She was  _beauty_ personified. His lips found her neck and he wanted to pick her up and carry her over to the bedroom, or maybe just lie her down here on this bed of roses. She pulled away, panting a little. Her voice was teasing. "Is that a yes, Mr Cooper?" 

He grinned, realising his own cheeks were wet with tears of joy. "Mrs Jones," he muttered, watching as she took his hand and slid the ring onto it. It felt right around his finger. "You're never getting rid of me now." 

She leaned in to kiss him again when a thought occurred to him suddenly. He pulled away, mind whirring. She noticed and frowned up at him. "What?"

"I have a ring," he choked, and she grinned up at him. 

"I know. I just gave you one."

"No, you minx," he muttered distractedly, hoisting her into his arms bridal style and carrying her into the bedroom. The candles continued in here too, and roses were strewn across the bed sheets. It startled him for a second, before causing love and lust to burn in his heart. He set Betty on top of the dresser and began rummaging through its draws. His body was hyperaware of her long, smooth legs and he tried to focus on the task at hand until- suddenly, behind the socks, his fingers bumped a ring box.

He yanked it out victoriously and held it up for her. 

She stared down; stunned. "What's that?" She asked dumbly, and he laughed, popping it open. 

A diamond ring shone up at her. "Betty Jones," he murmured, watching her chest rise and fall, and the deep blue of her eyes, "I know I've already said yes, but would you do me the honours..."

She whacked the side of his head, more tears coming now. He's pretty sure he's crying too. "When did you get that?" She shrieked, her hand trembling as he slid the ring onto her finger, taking her smile for a yes. 

"Evidently not early enough because you still beat me to the punch." He took her back into his arms and she locked her legs around his waist, and her arms around his neck. 

She nodded smugly. "I will lord it over you forever." 

He carried her towards the bed, kissing down her neck. "I can't wait." 

**Author's Note:**

> Comment you lovelies! 
> 
> Mwah x


End file.
